BIBLE STUDY AUDIO
TEACHIINGS FOR YOUR EDIFICATION AND BRINGING YOU TO THE FULLNESS OF THE STATURE OF CHRIST
Our Bible Study audio messages can be accessed from here. These are teachings recorded in the course of our weekly serialised Bible Study meetings for your spiritual edification and development.
Besides the audio, the conclusion/summary of the message is also displayed. This notwithstanding, the full Bible Study outline can also be accessed from the link indicated at the end of the conclusion/summary.
We pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to you as you listen.
Why Should We Desire to Know Jesus? (1)
Tonight, we have seen some reasons why we should seek to know the Lord Jesus. The need for you to desire to know the Lord Jesus, is because:
1. Majority can be wrong! Although many people across all walks of life thought that they knew the Lord, it turned out that only one, Peter, through divine revelation was able to say whom the Lord Jesus truly is. Knowing Jesus is to be personal; not corporate!
2. You cannot depend on the knowledge that other people have of the Lord, no matter how well they may claim to know Him. Listening to them could be misleading; and besides, nothing beats knowledge based on personal interaction and intimacy.
3. Just as Jesus’ disciples were one day confronted with how well they really knew Him, so will you; either by the Lord, by someone you are evangelizing, or someone who wants to know the Lord. How embarrassing it will be, if you were unable to give an appropriate answer borne out of your personal interaction and intimacy.
4. The most trusted revelation, which carries with it, certain spiritual blessings, still does not compare with a firsthand experience of the Lord. As wonderful as a revelation is, it is still an introduction that should create in you, the interest to want to know the Lord for yourself personally.
5. We are likely to believe that being born again is to enable us have a jolly good time or a jamboree; which is not the case. There are many people whose faith in the Lord have crashed because they had a wrong notion of who He is, and what He is about. Indeed, there are sacrifices involved in a relationship with the Lord Jesus, and it is as we come to know Him more and more that this is revealed.
Next week, we shall be looking at some more reasons for desiring to know Jesus, but for now, let us ask God to help us by His Spirit to have firsthand personal interactions and intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ on a daily basis.
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Why Should We Desire to Know Jesus? (2)
Again tonight, we see many more reasons why we should desire to know the Lord Jesus personally.
1. When you consider Paul, the apostle, who was not even a disciple during the Lord's earthly ministry and how the Lord used him mightily in His kingdom and for His glory, you cannot but be challenged to want to know the Lord as he did; if not more than he did. Paul's intimacy with the Lord made his sufferings a non-issue; indeed, he considered his sufferings a necessary part of knowing the Lord.
2. The value of knowing the Lord Jesus personally far outweighs all the priced jewels in the world, and everything the world can offer you, all put together. Hence, as Paul labored intensely to know and serve the Lord, so should we also, seek to know and serve the Lord.
3. Your knowledge of the Lord and the expression of that knowledge for the benefit of many, can only be possible through personal and intimate interaction with Him; we must abandon human ideas and concepts about the Lord, but rather, seek intimacy with Him, if we are going to bring souls to Christ (<strong>Mark 3:14-15</strong>)!
4. Unless the value you place on knowing the Lord far exceeds all that you can possibly hope to gain in this world, you will not be willing to pay the price to know Him. Hence, you must appreciate the priceless value of knowing the Lord. And what is this priceless value or benefit?
a. Divine wisdom which will keep you on to eternity with God and Christ.
b. Eternal life, which is equated with knowing God and Jesus Christ.
c. An unimpeded access into heaven.
d. The guarantee of an unswerving, resolute, conviction about the love and integrity of God, in spite of trials, tribulations, and temptations; and your eternal security.
Our motivation for seeking intimacy with the Lord Jesus, should come from men who have themselves walked with Him, in spite of harm to their lives (men like the early apostles, and all such men as do not love their lives for the sake of Christ). Nothing can be worse than emulating men who love this present life; men who are unwilling to let go of their lives for the Lord; and men who have a non-committal relationship with the Lord. Let us therefore, emulate Paul, the apostle, and labour to know the Lord Jesus Christ, more and more. We are, at this present time, the last, and can become the first; but only if we labour more than those who have gone before us. So let us labour to know the Lord through the grace He has supplied us!
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Why Should We Desire to Know Jesus? (3)
If the previous reasons we had marshalled in the course of this study did not challenge us enough to pursue after the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, certainly, the reasons we have seen tonight ought to. These are:
1. God delights in our knowing Him, and by implication, to know His Son, the Lord Jesus, since they are one with each other. We have seen how displeased the Lord Jesus was with Philip when Philip asked to know God, even though the Lord had been with Philip for so long a time; and, we have seen how God did everything possible to reveal His glory to Moses in spite of the inherent danger.
2. We have also seen that even though Isaiah had been prophesying for some time, it was not until he saw the Lord, that he was fruitfully and maximally useful in ministry; hence, it is clear that we cannot really be useful in the kingdom of God, and in the service of the Lord, as we ought to, until we know Him, as we should.
3. There is the danger of running foul of God when we don’t know Him as we ought to. This was the undoing of the children of Israel in the wilderness; and, Joshua, before his death, warned those of them who made it into the Promised Land to beware, because God could turn around and do them evil, even though He had been good to them before, should they not relate with Him as they ought to.
It is time we came to the realization that the Lord Whom we have been called to serve, ought to be known by us intimately, otherwise, we would be engaging in a fruitless venture. We ought to be aware that when a person does not take the time to know someone with whom he is supposed to be intimate, he may find himself doing things which would offend that person, resulting in unpleasant repercussions. This lesson, the children of Israel learnt firsthand, even after they got into the Promised Land. We don’t have to find ourselves in dire straits with God, before we realize that we ought to spend time, energy, and all our resources to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Why Should We Desire to Know Jesus? (4)
When we don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ, our worship is fruitless, futile, and a farce. The leper showed us his knowledge of the Lord Jesus, when he worshipped Him stating that he knew the Lord could cleanse him if He wanted—he was not worshipping the Lord as a means of extracting his cleansing! Israel, on the other hand, declared their own fast on to God, and wandered why nothing was happening, whereas, they abandoned the fast that God ordained. Just like Jeroboam abandoned the date that God had ordained for Israel to worship, and created his own, so do we have it today: Christians are today celebrating everything from Valentine’s Day to National Independence Days, except the one celebration the Lord Jesus asked them to celebrate—Holy Communion! And when they do celebrate Holy Communion, it is according to the commandments of men. How sad! The Greeks, with their worldly wisdom did not know the ‘God’ they erected a monument in honour of—what vain worship they were engaged in. And then there was the case of King Saul, whom God asked to go and completely annihilate Amalekites and all their livestock; who afterwards, returned with the same livestock and the King of the Amalekites whom he ought to have slain, and purported that he had brought the livestock to worship God. Samuel’s response was clear—God does not care for a worship that is not backed by obedience, humility, and true repentance.
In our generation today, our churches are filled with people who claim that they have come to worship God, but who are persistently living in disobedience, who are proud and boastful about what they possess, and, who have neither repented of sin, nor turned away from sinful living. Many of these people don’t know the One true God. They think that worship is just about attending a church meeting; they don’t realize that there is more to worship than just attending a church meeting—they don’t know that worship includes and involves how we present our bodies to God, what we are being taught in our church meetings, and the ceding of everything that we own to God.
Idolatry is the outcome of worshipping a ‘God’ that is not known. Some people think that seeing Jesus and knowing Jesus is the same thing; but it is not! Some other people think that offering sacrifices to God and knowing God is the same thing; but it is not! And still some other people think that receiving prophecy and knowing Jesus is the same thing; again it is not! Idolatry, in reality, is the worship of God as a means to an end; whereas, true worship is the recognition of the worth-ship of God!
Beloved, we must desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ, for in knowing Him, we shall also come to the knowledge of God, the Father, and will be able to effectively worship the Father and the Son, in spirit and in truth, as we truly should.
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What Is Spiritual Warfare?
The first Spiritual Warfare that took place as recorded in the Scriptures, was the war in Heaven (Revelation 12:7-11). This was a combat instigated by Lucifer’s rebellion against God, in which Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels, and defeated them, so that no place was found for the dragon and his angels any longer in Heaven; for he was cast out to the earth along with his angels! This dragon is he who is also called Satan and the devil, among other names that he is known by. The bible records that Satan came down with a fury to attack all those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ; and that refers to every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the Ages. With this background in mind, it becomes clearer for the believer to understand that he or she is in a constant state of battle against the forces of evil, whose pre-occupation is to separate mankind from God and drag them to hell. Spiritual warfare is a spiritual battle that takes place in the spirit realm but whose repercussions can be seen and felt in the physical realm. The Enemy is the Devil who fights through his demon spirits and human agents who align themselves with him.
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The Nature of Spiritual Warfare: Lessons from the Fall of Man
Our study tonight reveals that the nature of spiritual warfare can be very subtle and yet very deadly in outcome. Many at times, believers almost always expect a frontal attack of the enemy, but from the account of what transpired in the Garden of Eden, all it takes for the Christian to be wounded or defeated in spiritual warfare is to believe the lie of the devil, or, chose to disobey God.
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Our Spiritual Weapons (1)
Our study, re-affirms the availability and efficacy of the weapons of warfare given to the Christian by God, with which to ‘resist’ and ‘overcome’ the devil and his cohorts, in his or her day- to - day life (James 4:7). We say, to ‘resist’; and not to fight the devil afresh, because we must remember, that Satan has already been judged, condemned, and defeated through the blood of the Lamb of God that was shed at Calvary for the remission of the sins of mankind. The death and the resurrection of Jesus, put a permanent seal on the defeat of Satan in the lives of all that will confess Christ and live godly to the end. What is needed in spiritual warfare today, is for the Christian to walk in the consciousness and power of the victory already won for him by Jesus Christ; - this, is truly ‘the daily fight of our faith!’ We have tonight, examined the weapon of the Name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, the word of God, and, Prayer. We shall examine and conclude on weapons of our spiritual warfare as we continue with this discourse in our next bible study.
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Our Spiritual Weapons (2)
We learn from our study, that God has thoroughly equipped the Christian with several weapons with which to ‘fight’ the intrusion of the devil in his life, ministry, and sojourn here on earth. There is no reason why a Christian soldier should not be able to accomplish a victorious warfare against the enemy who wars constantly against his soul. The victory of the believer not only lies in the finished work of Christ at the cross, but more so, in the grace that has been given to appropriate that victory on a day-to-day basis, as we face the battles of our faith. We have been given also the weapon of the joy of the Lord, heart worship, the sacrifice of praise, thanksgiving and payment of vows, a humble spirit, holiness, spiritual gifts, praying in the Holy Spirit, and, the help of God, the Holy Spirit, - our Ally in spiritual warfare. To the natural man, these weapons may appear to be simple, but the bible says that they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds of the devil wherever they are in operation, because they are of God and are spiritual! Next week, we shall continue our study on Spiritual Warfare as we will be looking at ‘the significance of the believer’s armour in spiritual warfare’.
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The Significance of the Believer’s Armour in Spiritual Warfare (1)
From our study tonight, it is evident that ‘the Significance of the Believer’s Armour in Spiritual Warfare’ are as follows; the Spiritual Armour:
1. Is our Battle Gear;
2. It is a victory gear;
3. It is to be adorned in totality if the believer is to win;
4. It is to be used or applied in knowledge;
5. It is to be kept spotless and battle-ready; and, more importantly,
6. It is a lifetime adornment for the Christian for the duration of his or her sojourn on earth.
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The Significance of the Believer’s Armour in Spiritual Warfare (2)
It is important to observe that in speaking about the believer’s armour, the bible begins with the armour for our spiritual loins, - which is, ‘the belt of truth’ with which to protect our inner man. We are to bind up truth in our inward part for God desires so, before engaging in any spiritual battle for our faith. This is so because, we cannot defeat the enemy of our soul using his own weapon of lies and deceit. Following that, is the armour of ‘the breastplate of righteousness’, which serves as a protection over the believer’s heart. The Christian is not only the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, but our blamelessness, or, uprightness in word and action, must be real and seen (Matthew 5:20). There should be nothing that the devil can blame you of, or, trap you with (John 14:30).
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The Author and Audience of the Book
We see that the human author of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles is Luke, a medical doctor, by profession. But it was not in Medicine that he got his renown; it was in doing the work of God that Luke is known for. Likewise, Peter was a fisherman, but it was not in fishing that he got his renown; rather, it was in fishing for men that he became known. Also, we have seen the case of Amos, who was in the profession of agriculture, before God took him and called him into the ministry of prophet. It is the same for countless thousands over the Centuries. In the same way, we are not to expect that our ministry will have any direct bearing on our profession or vocation, rather, the work that God has called us into is to be done by a new man who has been created to manifest the true nature of God (the nature of righteousness and holiness)!
On the other hand, when we look at the audience, we see that the Book was written to one man—Theophilus. Besides him being mentioned in Luke 1:3 and Acts 1:1, nothing else is heard of him; and, the meaning of the name, “Theophilusâ€, which is, “lover of Godâ€, speaks more to us than it first appears. The fact that the Early Christians did quite a bit of nicknaming to avoid over-exposure to the Civil Authorities of their day, brings us to the inference that “Theophilus†was probably another nickname for the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And, even if that is not the case, we ought to be aware that whatever is said by God to one believer, and that becomes public knowledge, is usually meant for all believers—to learn from and not fall into the same error, where it is negative, and where it is positive, to help us make progress in our walk with, and work for God.
Therefore, we conclude that the Book of the Acts of the Apostles is the Holy Spirit’s (who is the real Author) message to us—the believers in Jesus Christ (the real audience). Luke was but a human vessel who documented the things therein for our own benefit, as is the case with all the books of the bible (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11; Romans 15:4).
We must therefore, prepare ourselves to learn about the Church of the Living God and the Early Christians, so that we can function, conduct ourselves, and serve God as we ought to, as we apply its admonitions and inspirations to us.
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Before the Acts (1)
We live in a society where the natural order of things is wont to be overridden; where children want to be, and are in fact, treated as adults even by their own parents, even before they attain puberty; where age is taken as a sign of maturity, rather than the proven exercise of wisdom, discretion, and discipline. Sadly, this trend has permeated, and is gaining traction in the church of the living God. In many churches today, spiritual babies are put in charge of sensitive matters, like the nurturing of souls—the classical case of the blind leading the blind (Matthew 15:14); of babies nurturing babies (1 Timothy 3:6)!
The proper order, is that, those who are born again are taught the word of God; that is, they are discipled, before being sent forth to serve. But what we find today, are people who barely know what it means to be born again, being placed over churches as pastors, or themselves going out to establish churches! We find people whose ‘umbilical cord’ to the world (the flesh) is yet to be severed and buried, being made ministers in many churches; we find people who can barely read Scripture, calling themselves ‘prophets’ and making pronouncements, and being followed by men who are uninitiated in the things of God. The sad result of this trend, is that churches are full of babies, carnal men and women, and even ‘worldlings’ (the unsaved), even in high places; continuing as though all is well. These things ought not to be so.
Hence, we must make discipleship the core of our own lives, and ministry to others. We must, however, first be assured/convinced/fully persuaded of the gospel before we can get into the Acts—effective evangelism, and other ministry services; we must also be continually growing in faith and grace, before, and as we can go forth to preach and cast out devils, lest we be ashamed and become offended because we of the suffering that shall arise from the preaching and practice of the gospel. We need teachers, who themselves have been taught the word of God, and who are living as they should in accordance with the word of God—really, disciples who can disciple others (2 Timothy 2:2)!
Brethren, before we talk of doing the work of God—which is what the Acts is about—, we must first be assured/convinced/fully persuaded of what we believe of Christ—the mark of a true disciple of Christ. Before the ‘Acts of the Apostles’, there must first be the becoming a disciple; for, discipleship must precede the Acts!
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Before the Acts (2.2)
Every discipleship programme must necessarily include a practical demonstration of what is being taught. Such a demonstration cannot be choreographed—they must be the result of the response of the discipler to life’s challenges and tribulations and persecution. It is therefore foolhardy to be praying for conditions to change, when in reality, the condition came about so that the discipler can manifest, through practical demonstration, what he has been teaching from the word of God.
Many new believers have turned away from following Christ, when they saw the hypocrisy of their teachers/leaders. Every believer in Christ must, therefore, recognize the unique position he/she occupies, in the sense that new believers in Christ everywhere, are looking at them—and it is what they see that they will replicate. Children generally learn by ‘catching’ or ‘picking up’ attitudes and mannerisms that they see of their parents and older siblings (Luke 17:1-4; 1 Corinthians 11:18-19).
Therefore, we who are teachers/leaders, and, those of us who are mature in Christ, must recognize our very unique place in the family/household of God (the Church). We are the ones that the new believers look up to for the practical demonstration of living the Christian life. We must thus, be ready to endure hardness, rather than seek an easy way out of life’s challenges; and, we must pray always, for, and in, all things as a mark of our faith/trust in God; even as we manifest the humility, purity, and charity of Christ at all times!
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Before the Acts (2.1)
On April 18, 1906, at 5:12 a.m., there was an earthquake in San Francisco, U.S.A. The earthquake lasted for just about 1 minute: there was a 20-25 sec. foreshock, and a 42 sec. main shock. By the time it was over, the 7.7 to 8.3 magnitude earthquake (a very powerful earthquake) had covered a 296-mile radius (approximately a 533-km radius), affecting places like Southern Oregon, Southern Los Angeles, and Central Nevada (an area almost the size of Nigeria). The impact of the earthquake was a series of fires burning out of control which accounted for about 90% of the destruction. 3,000 lives were lost; 225,000 people were injured; and properties worth $400bn (1906 figures) were damaged. Investigations showed that the remote cause of this powerful earthquake was the result of the California Gold Rush: years of digging for gold had caused a shift in the earth! Unfortunately, most people did not pay attention to building their homes on firm foundations, and so, when the earthquake struck, their homes were destroyed, and they became homeless.
Today, there is a similarity with what is happening in Christendom. Many people are focusing their lives on financial prosperity and turning God into a utilitarian Being (digging for gold), but have not considered the impact of a collapse of money and the challenges/difficulties of life (a powerful earthquake) on their faith. Have you? (Hebrews 12:26-27). Will your foundation withstand a shaking from God? (Matthew 7:24-27). Today, there are fires burning out of control, and there are preachers who had taught for doctrines, the commandment of men—Economics, commonsense, business methods, wisdom nuggets, human philosophies, psychology, etc.—and these have failed both them and their congregation! The present shaking has engulfed everyone, whether Christian or not: being able to withstand and overcome this present hardship without murmuring, living unrighteously, or falling apart, will depend on you following the word of God as has been declared to you, and as is written in the bible.
The shaking of God always comes (it has occurred in every age, and is presently occurring in our nation today, and will occur again and again at different times and in different ages). It is, therefore, very crucial that believers in Christ are devotedly, dedicatedly, and painstakingly discipled (2 Timothy 4:1-4), so that they can become like Christ, and be unfazed in the face of life’s challenges. We must note that in discipling believers in Christ, our focus must be that both the discipler and the discipled are of Christ; not of some founder or bishop/pastor/prophet! Our approach to discipleship must never be the teaching of church doctrines (which are essentially man-made), neither are we to teach about the founder of the local assembly or denomination, nor are we to teach about the pastor—all of which make up very poor materials for a spiritual foundation, and which can never save those who build their lives on such foundations! Our focus must be the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him crucified—a firm, tried, tested, and proven foundation—; and, “This work must continue until we are all joined together in what we believe and in what we know about the Son of God. Our goal is to become like a full-grown man—to look just like Christ and have all his perfection.†(Ephesians 4:13, ERV). Hence, discipleship cannot be a programmed event with a strict time-frame/syllabus; instead, it must be fluid, adapted to each individual’s capacity to learn and apply what has been taught, and, based on a personal interaction/relationship between the discipler and the discipled. At the end of the day, the fundamental issue is, whether the disciple(d) looks like, talks like, acts like, and does as Christ would! (2 Corinthians 3:18).
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Before the Acts (2.3)_1Prophecy
Many believers in Christ, are today bringing reproach to the name of God among unbelievers, because of the way they are living among them (Romans 2:24; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 7:1). While they profess to be Christ’s, they live and exhibit non-Christ-like traits, yet God’s main goal is that all who believe in Christ, should live as Christ lived while He was here on earth, else, they will be cast forth as reprobates and undesirables before God!
It is thus crucial that believers in Christ, first become like Christ, before they can act like Christ. Becoming like Christ means that the nature of Christ is in the believer in Christ, otherwise he or she will be unable to act like Christ. The practice of living as Christ lived, is to be based on the prophecies and principles, stated in the bible concerning the Christ-like life of the New Testament believer! Thus, the operation required for the new believer to be able to act like Christ, is scripturally, one that requires a complete change of his or her nature—from the sinful human nature (the old man), to the divine nature (the new man)!
Indeed, only by crucifying the ‘flesh’ (the sinful human nature acquired at birth because of Adam’s sin) and its passions/desires/lusts, can the believer in Christ truly live like Christ lived! No matter how much a believer in Christ may try, he will fail to live like Christ, so long as the nature of Christ is not formed in him or her. Hence, he or she must be open and yielded to God’s spiritual operation through the Holy Spirit’s application of the cross of Christ (death to one’s own will and desires) to him or her. Thus, a believer in Christ is made to conform to the image of Christ, as he or she yields to the Holy Spirit, Who is in him or her, and he or she is able to receive (“put onâ€) the very life of Christ, to replace (after he or she has “put offâ€) the old life of sin!
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